BY ESTELLE DEBATES
SEATTLE - For the first time in seven decades, the Makah Indian tribe of Washington State will conduct a whale hunt. The tribe voluntarily discontinued hunting in the 1920s because of the wholesale decimation of the gray whales by commercial whalers. The Makah decision to reinitiate the whale hunt is aimed at fighting to restore a part of their culture that was taken from them and restore pride among their youth.

Their plans have sparked controversy. Articles and letters appear almost daily in Seattle papers. Moreover, the Makah are facing an international array of opposition. Two radical animal rights groups and rightist bourgeois politicians - in particular, Washington Congressman Jack Metcalf -have joined forces to try to stop the Makah's whaling expedition set for October or November, including through physical intimidation.

The Makah, who once occupied 700,000 acres of what is now known as the Olympic Peninsula, whaled for nearly 2,000 years off the coast of Washington state. In 1855, following a smallpox epidemic that killed nearly two-thirds of their population and facing the growing settler encroachment backed by U.S. military power, they accepted a treaty with the United States government. The treaty left the tribe with only 28,000 acres in a reservation at Neah Bay, in exchange for a specific guarantee of the right to continue whaling.

The gray whale was removed from the endangered species list in 1994. Today's population is estimated at 22,000 and growing. After four years of legal proceedings, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ruled last year that the Makah can kill four gray whales a year. The Makah plan to hunt the whales in an ocean-going traditional dugout canoe, throwing a harpoon into the whale and then shooting it with a high-powered rifle to kill it quickly. They will tow it to shore to use for food and oil.

Campaign against treaty rights
Both Republican and Democratic politicians have opposed the Makah's right to whaling. Congressman Metcalf, a Republican, is promoting a lawsuit against several government agencies seeking to block the whale hunt on supposedly environmental grounds. Metcalf claims that treaty rights are "special privileges denied to all other citizens" and should be eliminated. On September 21 a federal judge ruled in favor of the Makah's right to whale.

In 1984 Metcalf attacked Indian fishing rights in Washington State. In 1996 he introduced a bill to make it more difficult for Indian nations to petition for federal recognition. Last year, he personally delivered a bipartisan letter signed by himself and 43 other congressmen to the IWC meeting in Monaco opposing the Makah request to hunt gray whales.

In league with Metcalf's rightist crusade are the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). Sea Shepherd has vowed it will prevent the Makah from hunting the whales. They back up their threats with a 172-foot, steel-clad ocean-going ship and a 27-foot submarine. Earlier this summer, they provocatively sailed these ships into Neah Bay onto the Makah reservation. The group says it opposes the hunt because "aboriginal whaling are being used as a tool for commercial interests to reopen commercial whaling."

PAWS is widely disseminating a brochure that claims the Makah culture "has survived and revived without whaling.... Well-connected to the City of Port Angeles and boasting a new 7.8 million dollar marina, a world-class tribal museum, lighted tennis courts, schools, Federal Express and other amenities, the Makah of Neah Bay have ample access to the modern conveniences of life."

Unemployment is as high as 75 percent much of the year on the Makah reservation. The major industry, fishing, has disappeared and the only cannery in town has shut down. And most of the housing for the 2,000 residents consists of trailers and small houses.

PAWS echoes the lie that Japanese and Norwegian whaling businesses are behind the Makah's decision to hunt. The Makah have declared that they will not sell whale meat, although that, too, would be protected by the 1855 treaty. PAWS plans to organize people to "witness" the whale hunt.

Another group, "In the Path of Giants," has declared that they will "impede the whalers from leaving the harbor."

`This is connection to our tribal culturé
In response to this opposition, the Makah have continued to make their preparations for the hunt and to publicly explain their position.

In a special article in the Seattle Times entitled "The Makah Manifesto," Keith Johnson, the president of the Makah Whaling Commission, publicly responded to these attacks, calling them "distortions, exaggerations and outright falsehoods." He explained that 85 percent of the tribe voting in an opinion poll favored whaling and answered forthrightly many of the issues raised by the animal rights groups. "We are committed to this because it is our connection to our tribal culture and because it is a treaty right - not because we see the prospect of money," he said.

Responding to those who believe it could open up the door to renewed commercial whaling, Johnson replied, "This is nonsense. If there are other indigenous people who have a legitimate whaling culture and whaling tradition, then they should be allowed to whale just as we do. The rest is all hype."

"To us the implication that our culture is inferior if we believe in whaling is demeaning and racist," he told the Militant.

This stance was echoed by many Indians attending the Makah Days Festival the last weekend in August. Many attending wore "I support Makah whaling" stickers. The theme was "Back to Tradition," a slogan not lost on anybody, including Sid Smith, a Makah and Alaska Airline mechanic. "I want to continue the tradition before we die out," he explained. "Whaling is a right we should exercise, otherwise we will lose it."

Prior to the festival, several Makah received death threats, including Ben Johnson, chairman of the Makah Tribal Council. One caller threatened, "For every whale that dies, a Makah will die." In response to a request from the County Sheriff's office, which feared anti-whaling protests at the Festival, Governor Gary Locke mobilized hundreds of National Guardsman during the event. The Festival successfully proceeded without any protests materializing.

The Coast Guard, which has a base at Neah Bay, has also proposed establishing a 500-yard "exclusion zone" around the Makah whale hunters. This is supported by the Makah in order to prevent anyone from interfering with the hunt or being put into danger by it. Metcalf and the animal rights groups oppose the exclusion zone.

In Seattle, animal rights groups are organizing opposition to the hunt. They are planning a "Seattle Rally for the Gray Whales" on September 26, which includes a march through downtown Seattle. They have also been conducting public meetings to get out their position and gather more supporters.

At one such meeting hosted by Common Ground, a "New Age" publication, leaders of Sea Shepherd and PAWS expressed paternalistic contempt for the Makah. Several times, they said that they "support the Makah's treaty rights - but not their exercise of those rights." They also considered the Makah "pawns" who are like "children." They even accused the Makah of "not knowing their real culture."

Scott Breen, Socialist Workers candidate for state senate in the 37th District, spoke from the floor, saying, "I unreservedly support the right of the Makah, guaranteed by treaty to hunt gray whales. This right needs to be respected, supported, and defended."

He said that attacks on Native rights "are occurring across the capitalist world. They are racist campaigns accusing indigenous people of having `special rights.'

"These right-wing attacks are aimed at reversing gains that indigenous people have won through decades of struggle and dividing and weakening the working class as a whole. They seek to foster resentment, portraying them as a threat to the jobs and rights of other workers - or as a threat to nature and the environment. They are being made scapegoats for the economic and social crisis created by capitalism."

The arguments of Breen and his supporters had an impact on several of the 15 people who attended the meeting. Some thanked the socialists for expressing these views; one person, an immigrant from Greece, said he agreed with the socialist position.  
 
 
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